BBC One announces major new World War Two drama World On Fire

These are the stories of the ordinary people who shaped our world. Stories of loyalty and brutality, courage and fear, hopes, stories of love and loss, hopes and dreams forged in extraordinary times.Peter Bowker

BBC One has green lit World On Fire, a new landmark drama series by Peter Bowker, multi-award winning writer of BBC shows The A Word, Marvellous, Capital, Eric And Ernie and Occupation.

World On Fire is a heart-stopping, multi-stranded drama telling the story of World War Two through the lives of ordinary people from all sides of this global conflict. The first series of seven episodes tells the story of the first year of the war, starting with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 and ending with the Battle of Britain. The drama will be produced by Mammoth Screen (Poldark, And Then There Were None, Parade’s End for the BBC).

Peter Bowker says: “World On Fire tells the hidden human stories within the big historical events we think we know. From Harry, a young English translator in Warsaw caught up in negotiations with the Nazis and trying to smuggle his Polish lover Kasia out of the country, to Lois, the girl who is waiting for him at home, a young Mancunian factory worker who will come to take all the opportunities the war can offer to live a different kind of life. To Nancy, a female US war correspondent who can’t find peace unless her life is at risk, to the Rossler family in Berlin, worried for their soldier son and willing to do anything to protect their disabled daughter from the attentions of the ruling Nazi regime.

"These are the stories of the ordinary people who shaped our world. Stories of loyalty and brutality, courage and fear, hopes, stories of love and loss, hopes and dreams forged in extraordinary times."

Damien Timmer, Mammoth Screen Managing Director, says: “Our aim is to tell a properly epic, deeply characterful and intensely adrenalized story, shot through with Pete’s characteristic irreverence and humanity. A drama that pieces together the story of World War Two from the inside, that traces the connections between allies and enemies, an epic story told on a human scale."

Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, says: “Eighty years on from the start of World War Two, Pete Bowker deploys his unique talent for creating utterly relatable and vividly drawn characters to tell the story of one of the great tipping points in twentieth century history, drawing us gradually and deftly into the creeping horror of the outbreak of war.”

Filming will commence next year in locations in the UK and across Europe.

World On Fire is a 7x60’ series produced by Mammoth Screen for BBC One. It is written by Peter Bowker, developed by Mammoth’s Creative Director Rebecca Keane and executive produced by Peter Bowker, Damien Timmer, Marcus Wilson and Helen Ziegler for Mammoth Screen and Lucy Richer for the BBC.